Government becomes more generous to Chisinau administration before elections – municipal councilor

Traditionally, the Government becomes more openhanded to the local administration before elections, this is why there are all the premises for considering that the next year budget of the Chisinau Municipality will be more solid, asserts Mihai Roscovan, municipal councilor, director of the Business Consulting Institute. Mihai Roscovan told Info-Prim Neo that taking into consideration the importance of the Chisinau Municipality and the particular interest of the political forces of the capital, the budget for 2007 could be much bigger than till now, in what concerns both income and expenses. According to the cited source, the existing budget draft provides sums of MDL 1.3 for incomes and expenses, this numbers being nearly at the same level with the last year budget. Roscovan says though, that after discussions held in the Committees of the Municipal Council, the budget will significantly increase. According to Roscovan, although the real incomes of the municipality are much greater than the expenses, its necessities are not sufficiently covered because collecting taxes in the capital represents a main source for the state budget. Chisinau needs bigger expenses also because, at present, its infrastructure is weak, numerous projects being needed in this sense. With all these, Roscovan says that the municipality should take into account the inequality between the capital’s development and that of the rest of the territory. If till the end of the current year, the Parliament will approve the Law on Public local administration and that on Administrative decentralization, which would allow local authorities to become more autonomous and to strengthen its financial capacities, the situation of the Municipality of Chisinau could significantly improve starting 2008. Recently, interim Mayor of the Municipality of Chisinau, Vasile Ursu requested that persons responsible for the elaboration of the budget work out, by the end of November, the draft of the Chisinau municipality budget, in order to submit it for consideration to the Municipal Council. According to his words, the allocated sums for capital investments would be known at the beginning of 2007, thus avoiding last years’ situation when the budget was approved with a several months delay. This delay resulted in a situation when investment tenders were announced only from March to May, and the works began only in summer. At the same time, Ursu said that for the next year the financing for the repair of the pre-higher education institutions from Chisinau will not be allotted as in the previous years “little to several institutions”. This practice, as in the case of roadworks was considered inefficient. The money will be allotted to 5-15 institutions, and it will be sufficient for performing restorations, so that the problem of repairs would not trouble these institutions at least 15 years. Vasile Ursu has previously told Info-Prim Neo that the central authorities agreed to finance from the state budget several projects related to the infrastructure of the municipality. At present, according to the interim mayor, a work group including the representatives of the municipality and the deputy ministers of Finances, Economy and Commerce, Transports and Road Management, specialists from the Agency for the construction and development of the territory elaborates a list of important projects for the next years, and for which the local authorities will solicit significant resources from the state budget. As well Ursu informed that the City Hall solicited support from the Government as regards the negotiation of some investment credits. Within the frameworks of some recent meetings between the central and local authorities it was decided that in 2007 the following projects will be carried out in the municipality of Chisinau: construction of the Moldovan village “Buciumul”; construction of the Northern Bus Station; designing and starting the construction of the Central Stadium; complex arrangement of Bac river, within Puskin Street – Petru Rares; construction of floored parking lots; finishing the construction of a municipal shelter for aged persons and the children living on the streets, by reconstructing the maternity hospital from Ciocana district, Milescu Spataru Street; reconstruction of Valea Morilor zone; construction of a connection roadway between Mircea cel Batran and M. Sadoveanu Street with Dinamo and Studentilor Street; reconstruction of the water cleaning station of waste waters; renewing the engineering networks from Chisinau; construction of Dimitrie Cantemir Boulevard and construction of social dwellings through the mortgage method.